"Changing Climates, Changing Communities" is a talk that I gave as part of the "Imagining the Future" Seamus Heaney Lecture Series in St. Patrick’s College Drumcondra, Dublin, Ireland in February 2013
Ciarán Cuffe, February 2013
"" is an initiative undertaken by the members of the French Nuclear Energy Society (SFEN), the American Nuclear Society (ANS) and the European Nuclear Society (ENS). It brings together nuclear scientists from all parts of the globe, through the representation of 60 regional and national nuclear associations.
Sustainability - What's wrong with a little climate change? Anders Lindgren
You may have heard about the dangers of “global warming and climate change”. It’s like old news. It hardly get you concerned. Well, there are some recent findings. Our Earth is getting warmer, wetter, wilder and more crowded than ever. It's scaring the hell out of scientists.
"" is an initiative undertaken by the members of the French Nuclear Energy Society (SFEN), the American Nuclear Society (ANS) and the European Nuclear Society (ENS). It brings together nuclear scientists from all parts of the globe, through the representation of 60 regional and national nuclear associations.
Sustainability - What's wrong with a little climate change? Anders Lindgren
You may have heard about the dangers of “global warming and climate change”. It’s like old news. It hardly get you concerned. Well, there are some recent findings. Our Earth is getting warmer, wetter, wilder and more crowded than ever. It's scaring the hell out of scientists.
Climate is the average weather over a long period and we expect it to remain relatively constant. CC is the single biggest long-term problem we face - the evidence is overwhelming. CC is a far greater threat to the world than international terrorism.
CC is not science fiction……and will soon prove to be a dead-end road for everyone. The key is actually discarding the idea that in order for a country to get rich, stay rich and get richer, you have to put more GHG in the atmosphere. That isn't true and it hasn't been true for years….. If we don't deal with this immediately, we will have island nations flooded; agricultural balance of most countries completely changed; a dramatic increase in the number of severe, unmanageable weather events and epidemic of unknown diseases. Our natural environment is very important in the aspects of peace because when we destroy our resources and our resources become scarce, we fight over that hastening CC.
What are we doing to our climate? What is it doing to us? What can we do?Paul H. Carr
OVERVIEW
I will be introducing you to ECONOMIC, ECOLOGICAL, and TECHNOLOGICAL ISSUES.
¥ Climate change is an unintended consequence of carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels.
¥ By pricing in the social and environmental cost of these emissions, we can expedite their reduction. Let’s harness profit greed towards green technology development.
¥ The environmental challenge is to balance the beauty and sacredness of nature with its utility.
ABSTRACT
What are we doing to our climate? The scientific consensus. Tides and temperatures are rising. Since the beginning of the industrial age, emissions from fossil fuel burning have raised carbon dioxide concentrations to 410 ppm. This is 33% higher than in the last million years. This increase is warming our planet via the Greenhouse Effect. At the present rate of carbon dioxide increase, we will reach 800 ppm by 2100. When our earth was at this concentration 40 million years ago, it was so warm that there was no ice. Sea levels were about 300 feet higher than today.
What is climate change doing to us? “The earth and its poor cry out, and we must listen” Pope Francis. Dry regions are drier and wet ones wetter. Wildfires have increased threefold since 1970, storms more violent, floods setting record heights, and glaciers melting. Natural catastrophes are occurring more than twice as frequently as in 1980. Sea levels could rise as high as 18 feet by 2060. Parts of Earth are increasingly uninhabitable, resulting in millions of climate change refugees, CLIMmigration.
What can we do? Religion and science matter. Ethics trumping economics. Let’s yoke our knowledge of climate science with the motivational power of spiritual values. We need to reduce our carbon footprints. We now have the option to purchase green electric cars getting the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon and solar PV panels to lower our electric bills. We can support the Citizen’s Climate Lobby which advocates a revenue neutral carbon production fee resulting in a dividend returned to all. This would stimulate our economy creating millions of jobs and increase the deployment of green solar, wind, and nuclear energy sources. Thorium, in addition to uranium, is a green energy source for the future. Republicans are less afraid of nuclear energy than Democrats.
Bright
Dark
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Assignment 2The Global Environment: An Emerging World View (cont.)
Reading Assignment:
Read Article 5, A safe operating space for humanity by Johan Rockstrom et al. on pages 36-41 in your textbook.
Overview:
This lesson will illustrate understanding of how locally-based activities influence global phenomena as climate change. You will also observe that in a time of disappointing progress is occurring in global initiatives to curb greenhouse gas emissions, one of the most promising paths might be a localized action.
The authors identified planetary boundaries that must not be crossed in order to avoid significant environmental degradation.
Of the 10 factors considered, 3 of them--biodiversity loss, climate change,and agricultural pollution--have already crossed the threshold for a sustainable planet.
Evidence so far suggests that, as long as the thresholds are not crossed, humanity has the freedom to pursue long-term social and economic development.
Topics Covered:Planetary BoundariesClimate ChangeRate of Biodiversity LossNitrogen and Phosphorus CyclesDelicate Balance
Key Terms:
Planetary Boundaries -- boundaries that define the safe operating space for humanity with respect to the Earth system and are associated with the planet’s biophysical subsystems or processes.
Holocene -- the unusually stable environment of the planet for the past 10,000 years, which has seen human civilizations arise, develop, and thrive.
Anthropecene -- an era that has arisen since the Industrial Revolution, in which human actions become the main driver of global environmental change.
EPA -- Environmental Protection Agency (www.epa.gov) for more information.
Greenhouse Gas (GHG)-- an atmospheric gas such as carbon dioxide, water vapor, or methane that easily absorbs infrared radiation & gives off heat, some of it directed toward space & the rest toward Earth.
Carbon Cycle -- the cycle of CO2 in the Earth‘s ecosystem; photosynthetic organisms transform the gas into organic nutrients, which are then restored to a gaseous state by respiration & decay. Instructor's Comments:
Fact 1: Currently, atmospheric CO2 concentration is 31% higher than in 1750, a level that has not been exceeded during the last 420,000 years.
Fact 2: The primary cause is human activity, particularly fossil fuel use & deforestation leading to further increases in CO2.
As we have seen a similar trend in the previous lesson, the following graph illustrates the CO2 concentration (dashes) and the global surface Ts (solid line)
Fact 3: Burning fossil fuels in power plats and automobiles ejects poisonous particles & gases that alter the chemical structure of the Atmosphere.
Fact 4: Worldwide CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) reached a record 30.6 Billion metric tons in 2010 that economists and scientist call this as “a wake-up call”. (Source: Int.
Climate Scientist James Hansen's 1981 Predictions Came True. What abouot 2016Paul H. Carr
1. 1981 Climate Impact of Increasing Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide. (Science)
2. 2016 Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise, and Superstorms… (Atmos. Phys. Chem)
3. Ocean acidification is threatening the bottom of our food chain.
4. Is green solar, wind, and nuclear technology advancing fast enough ?
The planet in our hands: responding to climate change (Glasgow)bis_foresight
Sir Mark Walport gave a series of public lectures on climate change at Science and Discovery Centres across the UK. In these talks he explored what the science tells us, and what we, as a developed nation, should do in response.
These slides come from the talk given in Glasgow on 14 March 2014, but differ only slightly from the slides used in earlier talks.
See also the video of the Bristol talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tKi8OSW640
Climate change discussion and various scientific viewpoints weave a matrix of knowledge in an incredibly complex global environment. Carbon dioxide sequestration is part of the matrix of environmental solutions that will accelerate our ability to develop and deploy green renewable energy.
The mobility challenge for our cities and towns, a talk by Ciarán Cuffe at the Irish Transport Research Network 6th Annual Conference, Galway 27th-28th August 2015
A perspective on Ireland's Local Government Reform Bill 2013 from Ciarán Cuffe, School of Spatial Transport and Transport Engineering, Dublin Institute of Technology
Welcome to TechSoup New Member Orientation and Q&A (May 2024).pdfTechSoup
In this webinar you will learn how your organization can access TechSoup's wide variety of product discount and donation programs. From hardware to software, we'll give you a tour of the tools available to help your nonprofit with productivity, collaboration, financial management, donor tracking, security, and more.
Read| The latest issue of The Challenger is here! We are thrilled to announce that our school paper has qualified for the NATIONAL SCHOOLS PRESS CONFERENCE (NSPC) 2024. Thank you for your unwavering support and trust. Dive into the stories that made us stand out!
Introduction to AI for Nonprofits with Tapp NetworkTechSoup
Dive into the world of AI! Experts Jon Hill and Tareq Monaur will guide you through AI's role in enhancing nonprofit websites and basic marketing strategies, making it easy to understand and apply.
Honest Reviews of Tim Han LMA Course Program.pptxtimhan337
Personal development courses are widely available today, with each one promising life-changing outcomes. Tim Han’s Life Mastery Achievers (LMA) Course has drawn a lot of interest. In addition to offering my frank assessment of Success Insider’s LMA Course, this piece examines the course’s effects via a variety of Tim Han LMA course reviews and Success Insider comments.
June 3, 2024 Anti-Semitism Letter Sent to MIT President Kornbluth and MIT Cor...Levi Shapiro
Letter from the Congress of the United States regarding Anti-Semitism sent June 3rd to MIT President Sally Kornbluth, MIT Corp Chair, Mark Gorenberg
Dear Dr. Kornbluth and Mr. Gorenberg,
The US House of Representatives is deeply concerned by ongoing and pervasive acts of antisemitic
harassment and intimidation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Failing to act decisively to ensure a safe learning environment for all students would be a grave dereliction of your responsibilities as President of MIT and Chair of the MIT Corporation.
This Congress will not stand idly by and allow an environment hostile to Jewish students to persist. The House believes that your institution is in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and the inability or
unwillingness to rectify this violation through action requires accountability.
Postsecondary education is a unique opportunity for students to learn and have their ideas and beliefs challenged. However, universities receiving hundreds of millions of federal funds annually have denied
students that opportunity and have been hijacked to become venues for the promotion of terrorism, antisemitic harassment and intimidation, unlawful encampments, and in some cases, assaults and riots.
The House of Representatives will not countenance the use of federal funds to indoctrinate students into hateful, antisemitic, anti-American supporters of terrorism. Investigations into campus antisemitism by the Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Ways and Means have been expanded into a Congress-wide probe across all relevant jurisdictions to address this national crisis. The undersigned Committees will conduct oversight into the use of federal funds at MIT and its learning environment under authorities granted to each Committee.
• The Committee on Education and the Workforce has been investigating your institution since December 7, 2023. The Committee has broad jurisdiction over postsecondary education, including its compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, campus safety concerns over disruptions to the learning environment, and the awarding of federal student aid under the Higher Education Act.
• The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating the sources of funding and other support flowing to groups espousing pro-Hamas propaganda and engaged in antisemitic harassment and intimidation of students. The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is the principal oversight committee of the US House of Representatives and has broad authority to investigate “any matter” at “any time” under House Rule X.
• The Committee on Ways and Means has been investigating several universities since November 15, 2023, when the Committee held a hearing entitled From Ivory Towers to Dark Corners: Investigating the Nexus Between Antisemitism, Tax-Exempt Universities, and Terror Financing. The Committee followed the hearing with letters to those institutions on January 10, 202
A Strategic Approach: GenAI in EducationPeter Windle
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies such as Generative AI, Image Generators and Large Language Models have had a dramatic impact on teaching, learning and assessment over the past 18 months. The most immediate threat AI posed was to Academic Integrity with Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) focusing their efforts on combating the use of GenAI in assessment. Guidelines were developed for staff and students, policies put in place too. Innovative educators have forged paths in the use of Generative AI for teaching, learning and assessments leading to pockets of transformation springing up across HEIs, often with little or no top-down guidance, support or direction.
This Gasta posits a strategic approach to integrating AI into HEIs to prepare staff, students and the curriculum for an evolving world and workplace. We will highlight the advantages of working with these technologies beyond the realm of teaching, learning and assessment by considering prompt engineering skills, industry impact, curriculum changes, and the need for staff upskilling. In contrast, not engaging strategically with Generative AI poses risks, including falling behind peers, missed opportunities and failing to ensure our graduates remain employable. The rapid evolution of AI technologies necessitates a proactive and strategic approach if we are to remain relevant.
Operation “Blue Star” is the only event in the history of Independent India where the state went into war with its own people. Even after about 40 years it is not clear if it was culmination of states anger over people of the region, a political game of power or start of dictatorial chapter in the democratic setup.
The people of Punjab felt alienated from main stream due to denial of their just demands during a long democratic struggle since independence. As it happen all over the word, it led to militant struggle with great loss of lives of military, police and civilian personnel. Killing of Indira Gandhi and massacre of innocent Sikhs in Delhi and other India cities was also associated with this movement.
BÀI TẬP BỔ TRỢ TIẾNG ANH GLOBAL SUCCESS LỚP 3 - CẢ NĂM (CÓ FILE NGHE VÀ ĐÁP Á...
Changing climates, changing communities
1. Imagining the Future
Seamus Heaney Lecture Series
St. Patrick’s College Drumcondra
Changing Climates, Changing Communities
Ciarán Cuffe, February 2013
4. “The three-tongued glacier has begun to melt.
What will we do, they ask, when boulder-milt
Comes wallowing across the delta flats
And the miles-deep shag-ice makes its move?”
9. Charles Keeling
1928-2005
Born Scranton, Pennsylvania
American scientist
Classical Pianist and Spatial
Planner
Scripps Institute and Mauna
Loa, USA
Measured CO2 increases
12. Sea level rise is expected to continue for
centuries.
In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) projected that during
the 21st century, sea level will rise another 18
to 59 cm, but …
13.
14.
15. …these numbers do not include
"uncertainties in climate-carbon cycle
feedbacks nor do they include the full effects
of changes in ice sheet flow"
More recent projections assessed by the US
National Research Council suggest possible
sea level rise over the 21st century of
between 56 and 200 cm
16.
17. A sea-level rise of just 400 mm in the Bay of
Bengal would put 11 percent of the
Bangladesh's coastal land underwater,
creating 7–10 million climate refugees
34. We have entered the Anthropocene, a period
where vulnerable coastal cities are flooded,
fertile lands submerged, and crops fail. Many
regions will have to stage a managed retreat
from low-lying coastal towns and
countryside.
The young will not forgive what we forgive. It
is time to act.
35. Bryan, J. (2013) Growing the Agri-Food Sector Sustainably (online) Available
http://www.ifa.ie/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=y3A1x6zJTvo%3d&tabid=1180
(accessed 11th February 2013)
Elliot, L (2013) IMF sees hope beyond the crisis but cuts world growth predictions.
(online) Available www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/jan/23/imf-world-growth-
forecast-davosGuardian (accessed 11th February 2013)
Lagarde, C. (2013) A New Global Economy for a New Generation (online) Available
http://www.imf.org/external/np/speeches/2013/012313.htm (accessed 11 February
2013)
National Economic & Social Council (2012) Towards a New National Climate
Policy: Interim Report of the NESC Secretariat. Dublin: NESC.
World Bank (2012) Turning Down the Heat -Why a 4° Warmer World Must be
Avoided. Washington: World Bank.
Editor's Notes
Many thanks for the invitation, and to Susan Pike, Jonathan Cherry and all who made this evening’s event possible. Thanks also to Seamus Heaney, a man whose heart beats in time with the earth itself. His poem about the Höfn glacier in south-east Iceland is a reminder of the impact of climate change on a vulnerable world.
Justover a decade ago, in November 2002. I was living on Millmount Avenue, close to St. Patrick’s College, with my young family. I was working late, writing an article on Thursday 14th November. I failed to notice the first few texts from my partner, and by the time I noticed, the tone had become urgent: “Come home quickly”. I cycled back from the city centre through stalled traffic and heavy rain. The Tolka was flowing thick and fast under Drumcondra Bridge.
As I turned down Millmount Avenue I realised that the road was under water, and shortly after I arrived into the house, the water gushed up from under the floorboards, until there was the best part of a metre of brown flood water throughout the house. We escaped with our young family over the back wall, passing our six week old child over the back garden wall to the waiting Guards and Civil Defence.
At that time I wrote “It was no act of god, but an act of man” that caused the flooding. Those floods were no doubt as severe as they were due to unplanned development upstream removing the natural soakage of wetlands close the Tolka’s banks. As we look ahead to your lives, there is no doubt in my mind that the acts of man, manifested through climate change will change our world in ways that we cannot even imagine. Thankfully in the case of the Tolka a brush with danger led to action to reduce the risk of future flooding events.Today I want to address three facets of imaging the futureI wish to pay tribute to great men and women; I want express my grave concern that the wake up calls on climate are being ignored and I want urge you to take action.
JohnTyndall was a Physicist from Co. Carlow. He published important works in the area of heat, sound and light, and demonstrated the greenhouse effect which is the foundation of much of the current work on climate.
Charles Keeling was an American scientist. He worked at Scripps Institute and at Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. His seminal work on the increase in carbon dioxide alerted the world to a changing climate.
He charted the seasonal variations in levels of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere. He noted that in the Northern summer months, plants and trees absorbed greenhouse gases, but not enough to stop the increasing upward slope of their concentration.
In recent years many women have blazed new trails in tackling climate issues: Gro Harlem Bruntland, the Norwegian Prime Minister defined sustainability, Christiana Figueres, as the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action, and Mary Robinson in the field of climate justice. They all have all assisted our understanding and response to a world where the climate is changed.Speaking recently at World Economic Forum in Davos, Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund stated that climate change not debt or austerity is "...the greatest economic challenge of the 21st Century." She went on to say in unscripted but sobering remarks to her audience that future generations would be "roasted, toasted, fried, and grilled."
It is easy to map the rises in sea level that will be a consequence of melting ice. It’s more difficult to predict the storm intensities and surges that can cause devastation.
The North Sea Flood of 1953 that claimed the lives of thousands in the Netherlands and the UK led to a massive investment in flood defences. The 2005 New Orleans floods were a wake up call for the US, as was the recent Superstorm Sandy.
In Ireland considerable flood relief works took place since the flooding of 2002. Will it take a massive climate related event before the causes, rather than the consequences of climate change are meaningfully addressed?
Outside of Ireland the consequences of a warming world are devastating. Rapid changes in habitat are killing off species, and decreasing biodiversity. There are increased movements of environmental refugees from vulnerable regions. However, the economic consequences are harder to predict.
No-one knows for certain what will happen to the world’s economy when vast agricultural regions lose their ability to grow traditional crops, when river basins lose their precipitation, or when voices are raised in anger.
No-one knows how the impact of a warming world of changing climates will impact on our children. We do know that there is a moral imperative to take action, to take action internationally, nationally and in our own lives.
In June 2012 the Secretariat of National Economic and Social Council published an Interim Report “Towards a New National Climate Policy”. At an institutional level it is important to note that NESC’s mission is to advise the Taoiseach on strategic issues relating to the efficient development of the economy and the achievement of social justice. NESC has a history of producing reports with strategic, long-term analyses of key economic and social development issues affecting Ireland. Although the Environmental Pillar is represented on the Council of NESC, their terms of reference have not changed to recognise the increased importance of the environment in recent years. This needs to change because NESC simply does not have the capacity, the understanding or the mandate to prioritise environmental issues.NESC states: “Our starting point was that action on carbon emissions must be consistent with Ireland’s economic recovery, employment growth and stabilisation of the public finances”. All of these points are important, but if NESC fails to acknowledge that much of the life on the planet is under threat, then their understanding of the challenge will be flawed.NESC reframes the Climate Change Challenge in Chapter Three by stating: “The opposite of compliance is thinking for ourselves.” At best this implies that a fresh approach is needed to tackle the issue, at worst it means that this Government has simply not been convinced of the need to take the issue seriously. The Reports states that we should explore tax measures that: “rely less on taxing ‘goods’ such as labour and enterprise, and more on taxing ‘bads’, such as environmental damage and resource depletion.” This is all well and good, but the train has left the station and it is time we caught up and got on board.
In November 2012 the World Bank published an important report “Turn Down the Heat -Why a 4° Warmer World Must be Avoided” The tone and the content is in marked contrast to the NESC Report. The World Bank states: There is no certainty that adaptation to a 4 degree world is possible … The projected 4 degree warming simply must not be allowed to occur. In his forward to the Report Dr. Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group says “This report is a stark reminder that climate change affects everything. The solutions don’t lie only in climate finance or climate projects. The solutions lie in effective risk management and ensuring all our work, all our thinking, is designed with the threat of a 4 degree world in mind.”The World Bank has sounded the alarm, but the response from NESC is lagging. Where is their enthusiasm, and the resolve that is so desperately needed?
This domestic complacency needs to be dismantled. It does not involve false choices between the environment and the economy, it must be about both. One of the first ways that this can be achieved is through meaningful national legislation to set targets, for Ireland, for 2020, for 2030 and beyond. The 2009 Renewables Directive 2009/28/EC otherwise known as the “20 20 20 Directive” sets binding targets for greenhouse gas reductions, renewable energy but not energy efficiency, and that’s where the gap lies. An absence of targets is a failure to commit.
Action must take place at all levels. It can take place through the political process, but also through people’s lives, their studies, and through the organisations that inspire and guide them.
Internationally, the Conferences of the Parties will continue to meet every December. Can meaningful agreements be negotiated? It may be too late. The world population continues to rise, with global numbers equivalent to the city of Cork being added every day.
At European Level, the Commission and the Parliament have engaged with the challenge more clearly than other organisations, however the EU emissions trading system lacks sufficient ambition, and thus the current carbon price is too low.
Mapping developed at European level through ESPON the European Observation Network for Territorial Development and Cohesion shows the affect of climate change through applying physical, environmental, social, cultural and economic criteria to different regions around Europe.
At National level, legislation and sectoral action is required. We need targets, sectoral allocations and realistic timetables. Last month the Irish Farming Association President John Bryan said “(the) IFA favours sectoral plans, as opposed to meaningless target-driven legislation, as a means to addressing the climate challenge.”
Targets are needed because evidence-based decision-making requires them. We already have clear figures for the amount of energy used in Ireland, and the emissions associated with them.
We know the relative costs of different abatement measures in the Irish context. This sets the scene for choosing from the set of measures that are available to us today, not at some distant future date.
Without targets, without limits, we have nothing. A Bill with no targets is like a budget without the figures, or an emperor without clothes.
In 2005 while in opposition, and in 2010 while in Government the Green Party produced legislation that contained targets and timetables for reducing our emissions. Had either of these bills been passed they would have given the certainty that businesses, communities and the planet so desperately need.
At regional level local authorities and other agencies can cooperate to take action. Dublin City Council has a climate change strategy that is up for renewal this year. It needs to be talked about and be seen as an integral part of the city’s strategy, rather than viewed as an add-on.
Within communities, there is significant scope for change. Traffic calming, a better bus service, community gardens can all help reduce emissions. However it is crucial that we move beyond the “unplug your phone charger” response. Real change requires a more involved grasp of the issues, and often a more fundamental response. There is a strong role for the media to educate and lead on this issue. It was heartening to pick up a current issue of the Sacred Heart Messenger magazine and read suggestions for calculating carbon footprints and carrying out carbon audits.In my own life I try and fly less, drive less, and eat less meat. I spend more time in the neighbourhood where I live. These are all good things. We need to talk about them more.
Politicians like to give hope, I want to give you hope, so let me imagine a low carbon future. It might consist of quieter roads and streets with less motorised traffic, and more sounds like children’s’ footsteps and bicycle bells. It would contain warm homes both old and new that generate, rather than consume energy. There would be communities where bonds of friendship and connectivity exist that were unthinkable in a time where the car was king. There could be new neighbourhoods, carefully planned of terraced homes, tall trees, sunny courtyards, leafy play areas, and bustling cafes.
On the bog of Allen 200 metre tall wind turbines connect to a pan-European grid. That could be our future. The alternative is more akin to that depicted in Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” and is best avoided. I remain gravely concerned at the inertia within our political system, the failure to show leadership on climate on the world stage, and the locked in climate carbon emissions that spell death and devastation for many, particularly in the developing world.Policy rhetoric has been and still is almost entirely detached from climate reality. Scientific consensus and political consensus are worlds apart. As the singer and songwriter Paul Simon once wrote “I would not give you false hope, on this strange and mournful day”
Long journeys begin with small steps, but unless you know your destination you are doomed to failure. Targets for 2020, 2030 and beyond should be enshrined in Irish law.We have entered the Anthropocene, a period where vulnerable coastal cities are flooded, fertile lands submerged, and crops fail. Many regions will have to stage a managed retreat from low-lying coastal towns and countryside. The 1% of us who can afford to fly and drive regularly will be responsible. The young will not forgive what we forgive. It is time to act.